Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

MUSIC

DEVOTIONAL MUSIC austerities thy fire, divine love thy crucible, and melt God's name therein. In such a true mint the Word shall be coined. This is the practice of those on whom God looked with an eye of favour." Nanak's religion being a proselytising one, several Muslims were converted to it, and it gathered momentum under his successors. Mirabai (1499-1547) was a great saint- poetess of India. She composed melodious lyrics of devotional love and dedication to- wards Lord Krishna.

The Bhakti poetical literature is predomi- nantly Vaishnavite and can be broadly divided into those of Krishna worship and Rama cult respectively. Many writers of the former faith flourished in the Brajabhumi corresponding roughly to the valley of the Yamuna. Kabir (1440-1518) was a great saint-poet. Nothing is known about his birth. In one of his poems he says that his parents died when he was young. Though he was a weaver, he was given over to meditation and philosophic thought. In one of his hymns he-says, "Kabir has renounced all spinning and weaving. The name of Hari (God) is imprinted all over the body". Kabir was looked down upon and fre- quently jeered because of his birth in a low caste. He was a great advocate of Hindu- Muslim unity. He tried to integrate the strict monotheism of Islam with its abhorrence of idolatry with the best in Hinduism. He was the greatest lyric poet and mystic of early Hindi literature. He preached through hymns and poems and may be regarded as the creator of sacred literature in Hindi. He showed the path of devotion to Nirguna or Nirakar (formless or abstract) God. He provided spiri- tual strength to the community which was then tom apart in the name of castes and creeds. He accepted Ramananda, a preacher of Advaita, as his mentor. He extolled the concept of Nirguna Brahma, deplored Hindus for their religious ceremonies, criticised the Muslims for their blind religiosity and ex- pounded his own views in such verse forms as 'doha' 'soratha' and 'pad.'. His discourses compiled by his disciples are now published under the title of 'Kabir granthavali' . Among the followers of his mode of bhakti are Dadu, Raidas, Sunderdas and Malukdas. One of the greatest of the school of Krishna worship was Surdas 'the blind bard of Agra’ who, writing in Brajabhasha, described in his 'Sursagar' the sports of Krishna's early life and wrote about the charms of Krishna and his beloved Radha. It is said that he composed about one and a quarter lakh verses but now only 5500 are available under the title of Sursagar. He was one of the eight disciples of Vallabhacharya. His name is included in Abul Fazl's list of 36 singers and musicians em- ployed at the court of Akbar. Another great preacher was Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. He proclaimed, "Make continence thy furnace, resignation thy gold- smith, understanding thine anvil, divine knowl- edge thy tools, the fear of God thy bellows,

Amir Khusrau (b. 1253 - d.1325) was a great Sufi saint and poet. His ancestors hailed from Transoxiana, a central Asian Turkish tribe. Khusrau's father was forced to migrate to India due to the onslaughts of Chengiz Khan and held a place of honour in the court of Sultan Mohammad Tuglaq. Khusrau was bom at Patiali (district Etah) in Uttar Pradesh. Khusrau was a great Persian poet and creative writer. He influenced many generations of writers with his mysticism, romanticism and psychic realism. A great Indo-Aryan mystic, he was deeply influenced by Khwaja Nizam - ud-Din Aulia and remained attached to him till his death. When Khwaja Nizam-ud-din died Khusrau went almost mad with grief and lived thereafter for only six months. Besides being a celebrated poet, prose writer and linguist he was a great musician and possessed vast knowl- edge of the musical traditions of the Indian, Arab and Persian systems. The greatest and most popular of Vaish- nava saints was Sri Chaitanya (1485-1533). Born in a learned Brahmana family of Nadia in Bengal, his original name was Nimai or Gauranga. An erudite scholar of Sanskrit, he renounced the world at the age of 24 and spent the rest of his life preaching his message of love and devotion -18 years in Orissa and 6 years in Brindavan, Gaur and other places. The essence of his creed is that "if a creature adores Krishna and serves his Guru, he is released from the meshes of illusion and at- tains to Krishna's feet". His gospel was meant for all, irrespective of caste and creed, and some of his disciples were drawn from the lower strata of Hindu society and from among Muslims. His songs ushered in the golden age of Bengali and Sanskrit literature in medieval Bengal. Chaitanya and his followers added 'prema' or 'bhakti' as the fifth purushartha and developed bhakti as a supreme rasa by itself. For Chaitanya, the legend of Krishna and his divine consort Radha was the symbol of the highest expression of mutual love between God and the human soul. The movement started by him spread all over Bengal and East India and inspired people for about two centuries. Narsimha Mehta (1414-80) was a great saint poet of Gujarat. A vedantist his knowl- edge of the Supreme transcends him to one- ness with Brahma, transforming him into a 'Gopi' in absolute love with Lord Krishna. His devotional lyrics of 'Premalaksna bhakti' rank him with Surdas, Yidyapati and other devo- tional poets of India.

Born a princess in a Vaishnav family, she studied dance, music and poetry. As her father Ratan Singh was engaged in warfare she was brought up by her grandfather in a religious atmosphere. Her poems suggest she had a mystical experience in early childhood and was emotionally wedded to God. She was married to Bhoj, the son of the King of Mewar. The marriage was however without any issue. She dedicated her life to the service of man and God and she began to compose poems. After the death of her husband she was persecuted by her brothers-in-law. She left Mewar in 1532, went to Brindavan (1534-36) and finally to Dwaraka (1537-46). In 1546 Rana Uday Singh in a mood of repentence offered to reinstate her honourably in Mewar. She left Dwaraka incognito on a pilgrimage to the south (1547-56) and the east (1557). Her poems are found in three languages Rajast- hani, Brij and Gujarati. There are above 1400 poems to her name. Her poems are short, simple and spontaneous with an intensity of feeling. Tulsidas, the most renowned poet of the age, based his epic 'Ramcharitmanas' on the story of Rama, the great divine hero of Indian mythology. This work "The pool of Rama's Life", has been justly described by Sir George Grierson as "the one Bible of a hundred mil- lions of people" - of Hindustan. His 'Vinay- patrika' with its enchanting melodious devo- tional poems and 'Kavitavali' with its kavit and savaiyya metrical style are mature works.